Rural Recruitment and Retention Analysis Cooperative Agreement

will identify successful tools and strategies used by States, health systems and individual providers to attract the staff necessary to support health care services in rural communities.  The awardee will also identify gaps in these areas and propose potential responses to these gaps that will inform rural stakeholders and policymakers.  The awardee will focus on helping to foster connections between existing national and State resources to support successful recruitment and retention.  The overarching goal is to enhance responsiveness to the challenges faced by rural communities in attracting the workforce needed to meet emerging needs, particularly in an evolving health care system where insurance coverage expansion brings both new opportunities and new challenges.1 This program, a cooperative agreement, requires an ongoing partnership and a collaborative relationship with the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy in the selection of projects and in the development and implementation of the activities submitted in the work plan.  Specifically, the Rural Recruitment and Retention Analysis Cooperative Agreement will work toward: ·       Conducting an inventory and developing a narrative report of the different rural recruitment and retention strategies currently utilized.  There will be a particular emphasis on analyzing nationwide and State-based programs, initiatives and strategies.  Existing health system and provider initiatives will also be reviewed.  Tools and approaches currently employed will be identified.  Typical recruitment costs and types of retention activities will be analyzed.  Unique rural challenges subsequent to the Affordable Care Act in the areas of clinical practice, Telehealth and rural health networks will be highlighted.  This component will include, but not be limited to, reviewing programs and activities associated with the National Health Service Corps, Area Health Education Centers (AHECs), Conrad State 30 J-1 Visa Waiver Program, National Rural Recruitment and Retention Network (3RNet), National Cooperative of Health Networks Association (NCHN), State Office of Rural Health (SORH) and State Rural Health Association (SRHA) initiatives, tracking tools such as TruServe and Practice Sights, the Community Apgar Program and additional software and commercial products as identified;  ·       Working with appropriate State-level experts to understand the current state of practice in rural recruitment and retention and emerging challenges and trends to inform future policy and programmatic needs; ·       Identifying successful models, why they are successful and what areas of commonality exist between them.  This will emphasize the practical experience from the field ¿ what works, what does not work and what is not known regarding successful approaches; ·       Identifying the gaps between existing rural recruitment and retention resources and proposing potential responses to alleviate these gaps; ·       Analyzing the particular health workforce needs in communities of color, where recruitment and retention challenges can be especially acute.  A focus on how to assist these communities in identifying appropriate strategies will be emphasized; ·       Analyzing the extent to which the unique recruitment and retention challenges of Rural Health Network Directors and Rural Telehealth Network Directors are addressed; and ·       Informing rural stakeholders and policymakers of key findings and potential responses to the ongoing challenges of recruitment and retention of a viable rural health workforce.  Recommendations regarding sustainability and more efficient use of resources will be emphasized. The Rural Recruitment and Retention Analysis Cooperative Agreement is envisioned to be a centralized, evidence-based, ¿one-stop¿ information portal for rural communities, rural stakeholders and rural policymakers to access the full range of programs, best-practice resources and research available to organize an effective approach for rural recruitment and retention of health professionals.